US authorities launch civil rights probe of Tulsa police shooting

US authorities have launched a civil rights probe into the police shooting of an unarmed black man in Tulsa, captured on video that sparked renewed outrage over law enforcement's treatment of African-Americans.

The fatal shooting on Friday of Terence Crutcher was recorded by police car dashboard cameras and a police helicopter camera in that city in Oklahoma. Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan, in releasing the footage to the public on Monday, called it disturbing and "very difficult to watch."

In the video, the 40-year-old Crutcher is seen with his hands up, appearing to comply with police officers and leaning against his car. He is then shot once by officer Betty Shelby, and falls to the ground. Another officer fires his stun gun.

This image from video, provided September 20, 2016 by the Tulsa Police Department in Oklahoma, shows the officer involved shooting of Terence Crutcher

It is not clear from the video who fired first, or what Crutcher's exact movements were prior to the shooting.

Crutcher later died at a hospital. Officer Shelby was placed on paid leave pending an investigation, police said.

"The entire family is devastated," said Crutcher's sister Tiffany during a news conference, demanding that "charges are pressed against this officer, that was incompetent, that took my brother's life."

Officer Shelby's lawyer Scott Wood told The New York Times that Crutcher had been behaving erratically and had tried to put his hand in his pocket.

"We will achieve justice in this case," the Tulsa police chief told a news conference. "We will do the right thing. We will not cover anything up."

News and video of the shooting spread on social media. Google reported more than a million searches Monday for Crutcher's name and related topics.

Meanwhile, demonstrators in Tulsa expressed outrage, and demanded that the officer be punished.

"This is not target practice. This is real life. Right now, we need for them to arrest Betty Shelby," said Marq Lewis, a member of the group We The People Oklahoma, during a protest on Monday.

The Department of Justice said Monday it would conduct a federal civil rights probe, a investigation parallel to the one local authorities in the state are carrying out.

The federal probe "will seek to determine whether a Federal Civil Rights violation occurred. The investigation will include a comprehensive review of the events surrounding the Friday night shooting that resulted in Mr. Crutcher's death," US Attorney Danny C. Williams Sr. of the Northern District of Oklahoma said in a statement.

This latest police shooting incident comes after a tense summer in which widely disseminated videos of police shootings of African-Americans prompted protests around the country.

In Baton Rouge and Dallas, officers were shot and killed by gunmen who appeared to have been motivated by a desire for revenge against police shootings.

As of September 18, 697 people have been shot and killed by police in the US, according to data compiled by The Washington Post.